STARKVILLE — Cornerstone Park hosted its first major tournament over the weekend with the Dizzy Dean 8U and 10U state championships. The park features 12 multi-use turf fields as well as concession stands, tables, playgrounds, and much-needed shade with temperatures nearing 100 degrees over the weekend.
The baseball brackets were topped by West Lauderdale in 10U and Starkville White in 8U.
I’m softball. West Point finished runners-up to Cal-Chick in the 8U championship while Caledonia beat Yazoo to win the 10U softball championship.
Starkville Parks and Rec General Manager Brandon Doherty spoke proudly of the new park and what it brings to the area.
“It was a great opportunity to showcase Cornerstone Park and what it’s capable of doing,” he said. “It was great to see so many teams from the towns of this community supporting Cornerstone. It was important because this was our first major tournament but it’s not going to be our last, and we look forward to doing this again.”
Cornerstone and Lowndes County’s BankFirst Yards bring two state-of-the-art baseball and softball complexes to the Golden Triangle. The parks are both set to host several tournaments over the coming months while continuing to host local leagues. For an area that already has strong youth programs for baseball and softball, the new complexes are seen as a chance to continue fostering a passion for the game among young players.
“Having the opportunity to play at a complex that is familiar to you is important in maybe getting the upper hand against a visiting team, but it’s more about the community and the ability to practice, play and get exposure,” Doherty said of the benefit of such parks to a community. “A complex like ours gives that opportunity to bring in all levels of talent and tournaments. When you have that you provide more to the community in giving the kids a chance to be successful.”
The final games of the 8U baseball bracket generated some controversy after one of the two Starkville teams in the division, the Starkville Stars, was forced to forfeit its semifinal matchup against Choctaw County. According to Dizzy Dean rules, every team must have at least 10 players active for a game. The Stars only had nine present for their Sunday morning game, with one player on vacation and another at church with his family.
Both the Starkville and Choctaw County coaches pled their cases in hopes of playing the game, but Dizzy Dean officials decided that Starkville would have to forfeit the contest.
Other local results
Elsewhere in baseball, the Starkville Maroon 12U team took home the South State Championship in Louisville, going undefeated and beating Choctaw County in the final.
Caledonia baseball had two teams finish as runners-up at the 6U and 11U divisions while Starkville’s 7U team finished runners-up with the tournament sportsmanship award.
In softball, Starkville’s 12U team finished runners-up to Sebastopol.
“Starkville is fortunate to have such strong softball and baseball programs with thousands of kids participating every year, and the competition this weekend showed how good that talent is. Teams winning the division, finishing runners up, or being strong contenders into the finals, it was exciting to see how much talent the Starkville community has.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
